"The Cloud" is a utility, much like electricity. When you plug your toaster or microwave into the wall outlet, out comes electricity. You did not do anything to generate the electricity yourself. There is a pretty good chance you couldn't locate the power plant your electricity came from if your life depended on it.  It is there when you need it. Your only concern is that the toast pops and the hot pockets get warm.

Cloud computing works basically the same way. Through the internet, you can access whatever applications, files, or data you have chosen to keep "on the cloud."  You can do this anytime, from pretty much anywhere, and from almost any device. 

How that information gets to you and where it is coming from are not your concern.  Somebody else is paid to worry about that. 

The potential benefits of this approach are obvious. To maintain the electricity analogy, if your IT department is still not yet on the cloud, you are doing the equivalent of running your own generator. With that task, comes a truck load of responsibility: Generators break, they run out of fuel, they need to be serviced, and--if demand for power increases--new ones need to be purchased and brought online.

The cloud frees the IT department from the equivalent of that. Just like power companies, cloud providers are the ones who are responsible for all maintenance, infrastructure, and repair. They are responsible for meeting surges in demand, and ensuring that service is reliable.

We do not run the cloud.  We do not own the cloud.  We know the cloud.